Gene Luen Yang’s breakout 2006 graphic novel, American Born Chinese, won a lot of accolades for the Oakland, California-based writer, artist and educator, including several that also marked milestones for the medium of sequential art: both the first time a graphic novel was named a finalist for the National Book Award and the first time a graphic novel earned the Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association.

Now, Yang announces his latest graphic novel project, Boxers & Saints,exclusively at Wired.com. Due out this September from First Second Books, the slipcased edition will contain two volumes that explore the stories of two peasants during the Boxer Rebellion in China who struggle with issues of identity during a time in Chinese history when many were asked to choose between their country and their faith. While Boxers tells the story of a peasant who joins the Rebellion, Saints follows the spiritual journey of a Chinese woman who converts to Catholicism.

Yang shared his thoughts on the upcoming release with Wired, along with a 10-page excerpt from Boxers.

Wired: The format of Boxers & Saints is rather unusual, where you’re publishing two separate volumes with shared characters and thematic connections. Why approach the stories in that way?

Gene Yang: I first became interested in the Boxer Rebellion in 2000. That year, Pope John Paul II canonized 87 Chinese Catholics. This was the first time the Roman Catholic Church has recognized the Chinese in this way. I’m Catholic, and I grew up in a Chinese Catholic community in the Bay Area. My home church was really excited about the canonizations and had all sorts of celebrations.

When I looked into the lives of the Chinese saints, I discovered that many of them had died during the Boxer Rebellion, a war that occurred on Chinese soil in the year 1900. Back then, the Chinese government was incredibly weak. Western powers were able to establish concessions – pieces of land that functioned as colonies – all across China. The poor, hungry, illiterate teenagers living in the Chinese countryside felt embarrassed by their nation’s weakness, so they came up with this ritual that they believed would give them mystical powers. Armed with these powers, they marched across their homeland into the major cities, killing European missionaries, merchants, soldiers, and Chinese Christians. Because their martial arts reminded the Europeans of boxing, they became known as the Boxers. John Paul II’s canonized saints were among the Boxers’ victims.

The more I read about the Boxer Rebellion, the more conflicted I felt. Who were the protagonists here? Who was more deserving of our sympathy? The Boxers or their Chinese Christian victims? When the Vatican announced the canonizations, the Chinese government issued a protest. They believed the Catholic Church was honoring women and men who betrayed their own culture. In many ways, the Boxer Rebellion embodies a conflict that some Asian and Asian American Christians struggle with, a conflict between our Eastern cultural heritage and our Western faith The two volume structure is meant to reflect this conflict. In one volume, the Boxers are the protagonists. In the other, the Chinese Christians are.

Wired: How necessary are the two stories to each other? Taken separately, both give complete stories, but read together, the connections between the two make both into far deeper and richer experiences. Was there ever any discussion about putting them out as separate books, or dropping one of the stories altogether?

Yang: I tried to give each volume a satisfying beginning, middle, and end so that they could be read separately. I also tried to write them so they could be read in either order. Early on, there was some debate about whether to publish the project as a single volume, but I really wanted it to be two separate volumes to reflect its dual nature. The folks at First Second Books have been incredibly generous and understanding.

Wired: Was there ever any worry about whether or not historical fiction about a Chinese Revolution and spiritual awakenings would be a hard sell to readers? Did that impact the way you wrote?

Yang: Not until you brought it up just now. Actually, my whole cartooning career has been kind of a dream. I started American Born Chinese as a mini-comic. I would write and draw a chapter, photocopy a hundred or so copies at the corner photocopy store, and then try to sell them on consignment through local comics shops. If I could sell maybe half a dozen, I’d be doing okay. When you’re working on that scale, you don’t really think about what does and does not impact sales. You just worry about whether or not you’re telling a good story, whether or not you’re making something new.

Although First Second Books operates on a different scale, I’ve tried to keep that same mentality. I’ve tried to only write and draw things I’m passionate about. I’ve tried to tell a story that’s engaging enough to keep the reader from the first page to the last. First Second is a business – they do have folks who crunch numbers – but I think their passion, their reason for getting up in the morning, is the same as mine. They want to put out stories that are engaging enough to keep the reader from the first page to the last.

Wired: How much research went into the historical setting of the book? Has the Boxer Rebellion been an interest of yours for awhile, or did you discover it while coming up with initial ideas for the book?

Yang: This is the most research I’ve ever done for a project. I’ve been working on Boxers and Saints since American Born Chinese came out in 2006. It’s been a long process. I spent a year going to a university library once a week. I visited the Jesuit Archives in Vanves, France and looked through their vast collection of photos. I read a bunch of books and watched a bunch of movies.

The thing about research is that there’s no end. You constantly have this fear that an expert who knows more than you will call you out on some detail in your book. (Actually, I’m pretty sure this will happen.) At some point, you just have to call it. The way I got myself to stop researching and start writing is to realize that I’m not trying to recreate China in the late 1800’s. I’m trying to create a functional, believable cartoon world that reflects China in the late 1800’s.

Wired: The religious aspect of the book is closely tied to the characters’ sense of self; the latter is a recurring theme in your work, but this is the first time faith plays such a defining role. Why approach religion now, and why in this way?

Yang: I have done one explicitly religious book. The Rosary Comic Book illustrates the rosary, a popular Roman Catholic devotional prayer, and was published by Pauline Books and Media. Religion also shows up in some of my other books. In American Born Chinese, I paraphrase one of the psalms from Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus appears in Loyola Chin and the San Peligran Order, a graphic novel I did for SLG Publishing.

Author Marsha Qualey says that an equation lies at the heart of all YA [young adult] lit: Power + Belonging = Identity. I think this is true. I talk about religion because it’s one of the ways human beings find power and belonging. Religion is more than just that – I think faith traditions give us ways to talk about experiences of the numinous, too – but power and belonging are a big part of it.

Many of the priests who served at my home church had spent years – decades, in some cases – living in Chinese reeducation camps. Their faith gave them a sense of power and belonging even when they were powerless and alone. It affirmed their identities by reminding them that they were a part of something bigger than their immediate surroundings. And although few of us have experienced such extreme circumstances, many join faith communities searching for those same things.

Wired: Saints plays with the reader’s expectations in a lot of ways, with Christianity being initially characterized as the work of devils… How much of that is playing on Vibiana’s own journey of faith, and the wrong-turns and misunderstandings she makes along the way?

Yang: I hope that Vibiana’s journey reflects many people’s faith journeys. Taking on a new religion is like taking on a new culture, with all the inevitable misunderstandings, conflicts, and struggles. I also hope that Vibiana’s journey reflects Asian Christianity. A hundred years ago, Christianity was seen as something foreign, something dangerous. Now, Christianity thrives in Asian countries like South Korea and China. How did this Western faith transition from “the work of devils” to an accepted part of Asian societies? Vibiana’s story is my best guess at an answer.